Thanks to Peter Forrest, who runs Vemia for sending me copies of both volumes of his "A-Z of Analogue Synthesiser" books. They're awesome - 744 pages of pure geek heaven. I've now seen a picture of a Tubon and you can expect MT to be far better informed in future. The books are individually numbered, in a limited edition of 6,000, with only a couple of hundred A-Ms left. They're £20 each, or £37 for the pair, including UK shipping (£41 to Europe, £47 to USA). email Peter to order. Very excitingly, Peter also says he's working on an "A-Z of Effects". He's been writing it for four years, and his print deadline is October 11th.

Posted by Tom Whitwell.

Comments:

I read these books almost every night when I'm getting ready for bed. My wife thinks I'm the world's biggest geek, which isn't far off. Also check out Keyfax Omnibus and Vintage Synthesizers if you haven't already.

I've got Mark Vail's Vintage Synthesizers book (it's right on Amazon)...it's pretty damn good and that's the one I've been reading every night all month. Are these books even better? Is it even possible?

Vintage Synthesizers: In-depth stories behind a small number of synths, mostly pulled from keyboard magazine. Currently being abridged and reprinted in Keyboard as their "Vintage Synth" column.

A-Z: Limited to full coverage of every analog synth you've ever heard of, plus twice as many that you haven't heard of. Chart showing the selling price of that synth over the years (usually a smile curve that troughs in the early 90's), good reviews of the products and lists of famous users. A must-have if you're into analog synths.

Keyfax Omnibus: Reviews of "Top 100" synths from 1970-1998 or so. Includes samplers and ROMplers, also lists sales data (i.e. 3000 total ever made). Also a fun read.